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Hiring a Taxi
During Rush Hour

By

Sam Schechner Special to The Wall Street Journal

Updated April 26, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

In most cities, cabbies aren't going to win any popularity contests.

But in recent years, many cities have been tightening the rules to address complaints about aging fleets, long wait times and surly drivers. In Chicago, a 12% fare increase next month will be accompanied by a three-strikes rule for cabbies who don't keep their vehicles clean. New York, which has the most taxis of any U.S. city, has a point system to weed out cabbies who are bad drivers. In Los Angeles, cab companies have to hit benchmarks on things like punctuality...